Rehnquist: Fat Lady to Sing? (Sort of Liveblogging)
Well, if Drudge has it, it must be true:
Hey, he's a musical theater buff: Wetoldyou that his retirement would be dramatic. And before you complain about a ruined weekend, remember, in Washington, this counts as fun.
UPDATE 4: 10PM: Well, fuck, someone got to our shtick before we did. As it were: "Sodomize tonight, while you still can." [ Gawker ]
UPDATE 4: 35PM: Saying Rehnquist won't retire is the new saying Rehnquist will retire! The SCOTUS Nomination Blog (sounds official!) says with all the authority capitals can muster, "The Chief Justice Will Not be Retiring Today." [ SCOTUS Nomination Blog ]
UPDATE 4: 49PM: At least cable producers believe the whole " will announce when AF1 touches down " thing -- the nets are covering Air Force One's touch-down live.
UPDATE 4: 50PM: It's TIME! It's TIME! Bob Novak said so .
UPDATE 4: 54PM: Well, that was anticlimatic. But Drudge still believes...
UPDATE 5: 06PM: Or, rather, Drudge has totally, uhm, fudged the issue. (Hint: the word "tonight" is now missing.):
Uhm... sorry for the fuss. You can still catch the 6: 30 shuttle!
UPDATE 5: 23PM: RedState.org is still pumping it's source. Or the source is pumping RedState. Someone is pumping someone... Mmmmm.... Sorry. Anyway: "William Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States, has retired. A White House statement is forthcoming. Should caveat this: A very good source says this." Did you leave for the shuttle yet? [ RedState ]
UPDATE 5: 36PM: Oh, Drudge , you have gone soft, soft like a certain not-yet-retired judge's wattle:
UPDATE 5: 40PM: Raw Story makes us miss the days back when Time magazine reporters emailed us, too; a Time reporter "dispatched an email across the city at 4:30, asserting the White House has rescheduled Monday meetings for Tuesday to accommodate a retirement announcement Monday, though others on the Hill say the meetings were rescheduled earlier this week." Well, that's, uhm, not definitive. [ Raw Story via Charging RINO ]
UPDATE 5: 52PM: RedState fashions a non-denial denial: Rehnquisthasretired, but "details are being worked out to give the Chief Justice an appropriate send off as the head of the third branch of American government." Fuschia pleather catsuit, maybe?
In any case, that was exciting. And, yes, we just spent two hours live-blogging a non-event when wecould have been drinking. But it was all worth it just to see Bob Novak be so spectacularly wrong.